Hello fellow screenwriters, I was just wondering if anyone here knows about any books that specialize in writing horror scripts. I've read Stephen King's ON WRITING, which I loved although it is not like your Save The Cat book that talks about structuring also. I would love to get some recommendations from you guys, thanks in advance and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you.
Screenwriting : A book about writing horror films by Rafael Pinero
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Que unda, mi amigo! Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association (Edited by Mort Castle) is a great read. It features around 40 articles by many great horror writers. I'm sure you'll really love it. Buena suerte, Raf!
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Hi Bill, I just read that book, good book by the way, interesting opinions from great writers, although I think it's more for the novelist like ON WRITING from Stephen King.
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Jim, did you mean the book Horror writing 101?
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By Steve French?
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Hi Rafael , I'm not sure there are books about horror, but there are 2 great books by Neill Hicks about elements that can be part of horror -on thrillers and action adventures. Look up books by Neill Hicks. In my opinion, Genre is not as important as Central Idea Maybe this short video expert from my 'Book Making A Good Script Great' might help explain my comment. Good Luck to you & Happy New Year https://youtu.be/f5yiwSASAqo?list=PLSh8nBH3KClOlm80Tsx0T4I4GiQXLJYYp
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Great, thanks... Gotta check these books out.
I can't think of any books off the top of my head, but if you're familiar with John Truby, he has a number of genre audio courses that are good. I believe horror is bundled in with Sci-Fi and fantasy, though. There's also a website that has several well thought/written articles discussing horror in writing - the first article link below, but you can follow the links at the end of the page to the rest of the content. I found the three articles from David Taylor especially useful as they discuss what audiences want and don't want: http://www.writing-world.com/sf/taylor1.shtml
Thanks for the link James
I would suggest finding scripts of some of the horror films you enjoy as well and get a feel for their structure and formatting. It can definitely help with shaping the story you want to make.
Rafael: Good question and groovy idea. Here are some links that came up when I searched "Techniques for writing horror stories." http://nofilmschool.com/2013/10/how-to-make-your-horror-film-screenplay-... http://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/06/how-to-write-horror-story.html http://www.simplyscripts.com/WR_HH_horror.html http://www.scriptmag.com/features/dont-forget-the-horror-when-writing-ho... http://scriptshadow.net/screenwriting-article-the-keys-to-writing-a-grea... Coincidentally, I just finished my first script for the year yesterday, which is a horror story. Since my antagonist is a crazed killer, I watched "Psycho" and read the original "Halloween" script. I also made sure I had a big opening, two inciting incidents in the first 25 pages, a midpoint finale and an action packed third act. I also let those films and shows that have influenced me provide me with ideas and plot points.
You're right Jordan, that's usually what I do, I just wanted to know if there exists a book like save the cat that specializes just in Horror. I remember I took a course at UCLA that was called writing the Horror script, good class but this was a long time ago back in 2000, so I'm just wondering if a book about is already out that I don't know of.
Hey Phillip, nicely done, I remember I read the Halloween script also when I was writing my Short Film SECLUSION back in 2000, it does help to read other scripts. Thanks for the links.
Jim, I just purchased that book horror 101 that you suggested, I'm eager to read it.